Julios Banderas
Julios Lara Banderas, AKA Bandito, is a notorious Type-III powered criminal, founder and leader of the Neo Los Sureños gang that plagues the South Side district of Union Falls. A Honduran national who illegally emigrated to the United States, he seeks to make a name for himself and rise to the top into becoming a rich, feared metahuman. History Twenty-seven years ago, Julios Lara Banderas was born to a very poor farming couple in Central America. Growing up with little money and only getting by with a meager education, Banderas was quickly thrown into the life of crime, pledging allegiance to various gangs until he got absorbed into a chapter of the Sureños. Sometime during a large drug deal gone bad when he was sixteen, Banderas along with his other few friends and gang members were captured and held by a fearsome rival gang, who wanted to make an example to those they were feuding against. Several of those who were with Julios were executed by beheading, the rest of body of the victims being chopped up as the dwindling survivors were forced to watch. When it came to Julios' turn, out of absolute fear and wanting to be freed of his impending death, had an Awakening, disappearing from sight of everyone in the room, finding himself several blocks away in another persons back yard, where he made his escape. Recovering from that ordeal did Julios eventually realize he was a metahuman, the young man was determined to get revenge, but also wanted to keep his powers a secret for as long as possible. Training himself of his abilities and experimenting with the limits of what he can and can't do, Banderas eventually did get revenge on those responsible for his awakening and nearly killing him, surprising each of his would-be executioners one at a time and using his powers to make a quick escape after killing each of the eleven members of the rival gang. During one incident he was attempting to rob another, he had saved the life of a younger Coyote Anthro-feralis, Antoine, who at the time was visiting family in Honduras but was unluckily caught by group wanting to press-gang anthros into their own outfit. Antoine felt gratitude for his would-be savior, quickly becoming a friend of the small-time crook meta, while slowly getting into his activities, eventually taking on the nickname Lobo. Where Lobo could not follow Banderas, the meta would be on his own trying to score as much money and power as possible, robbing various other gang members and banks of their cash and weapons. Some of his acts were briefly caught on camera, before he would disappear from view with the stolen goods, thus the press would dub this thief The Vanishing Bandit. Banderas would soon also dub himself Bandito, with a claim he was doing this as a modern-day Robin Hood. Which soon proved anything but. Lobo went back to the United States eventually, leaving Bandito to his own devices and methods, using his powers to transport along almost any object with him to stockpile himself for the trip up to the United States, while gaining the favor of the larger gang outfits up to the Sureños and La eMe, becoming their top drug runner and enforcer. The authorities of Central America in the various countries put out an international warrant for his capture, but due to Bandito's abilities made conventional capture or even sightings extremely difficult, also in no small part of Bandito having a habit of 'permanently' disappearing anyone who views him using his power that's not supposed to be in the know. He crossed over into the United States sometime in 2019, slowly making his way north and expanding his influence gradually under the banner of the Sureños, before message got to him that the gang at large wanted him to stop, due to rumors he was a meta and may attract unwanted attention towards the criminal enterprise as a whole. Bandito was angered, but undeterred, as he vowed he'd eventually make something bigger than the regular gang that would make even the largest of the criminal cartels south of the border jealous, proclaiming he'd make his own chapter from the ground-up if need be. Catching wind of this, La eMe, instead of putting a hit out on the ambitious meta, decided to play things by ear to see how he would do. Foundation Bandito eventually made his way to Union Falls presumably in 2023, quickly making himself known in the criminal underworld. He proceeds to feel out and around who the big-name players are, all the while gathering up the extremely smaller outfits and gangs, with tales and stories of grandeur, wowing few select individuals of his power and what he can do for them. With enough members gathered to start and his experience with the bigger gangs in past, Bandito had laid the foundation of the Neo Los Sureños in record time, using his accrued finances to bolster the gang and further absorb (or eliminate) any smaller gangs in the way. However, the bigger power players still loom, and with the expanding size of the newfound gang immediately got the attention of the more firmly established Skull Crushers. Not happy with the new kids on the block, and further enraged at the Neo Los Sureños recruiting anthros into the fold, a slow-boil of conflicts started to crop up, also quickly getting the attention of law enforcement onto the gang. Sometime in 2024, Antoine would join under the alias Lobo. An undetermined time after that he and a few others would encounter Jules, promising the cheetah partial anthro some extra cash for a few odd jobs here and there. Expansion and War Bandito purposely kept a low profile of himself, while working through proxies to establish and affirm control over portions of the South Side neighborhoods. Even when the Skull Crushers started to gradually escalate tensions (to the point of starting small-time skirmishes out in the open), Julios continued to lay low, only exposing himself in grandiose fashion whenever the need arose. Things briefly came to a head shortly after the 2029 terror incident, when still in need of hardware and firepower, came into contact with a mysterious benefactor of Japanese origin Leery of this one who went by the code-name Kamitachi, nevertheless, Bandito worked out a deal that would bestow some of his members with more power, while being a guinea pig for a potentially dangerous experiment. Then the war broke out in full force across South Side between the Neo Los Sureños and the Skull Crushers, forcing various members of the Liberators-830B team to respond and assist with the escalating district-wide chaos. Bandito himself had handed out the mysterious vials to members of his gang, and while secretly accompanying a small contingent into a Skull Crusher-owned warehouse, he came upon a snooping Isaiah Brown, which resulted in a brief physical altercation before being interrupted by a manticore that was housed in the area. Siegfried Peters, Tanwyn Angharad and Alder Thornwick of the Liberator-830B team responded and went into combat with the monster. Bandito briefly assisted, before attempting to incapacitate Angharad with a teleported car, and then subsequently fleeing the scene with Lobo in tow. Wanted Officially a fugitive and branded a dangerous metahuman, Bandito subsequently hid out at various safehouses alongside his compatriot Lobo. With the Neo Los Sureños suffering extreme heavy losses and in disarray, the only thing burning in Julios' mind was of revenge. However, he was also severely indebted to the one who provided the strange chemical that by unknown means induces Type-III activations, Bandito had to make a move. First, with a bit of digging through relatives of the victim, he located one of the members who did not take the drug cocktail, Callaghan Forrest, interrogating him on the whereabouts of the chemical before murdering the cowardly male via a high story drop from an outside city water tower. Next, upon making his move back into the city, he located and subsequently roped Lobo into a plan of murdering the traitor of the Sureños, Thomas Gilbert via another high-story drop from within Union Central. Becoming more unstable and threatening his now only confidant, Lobo, Bandito intended to hide away to catch his breath, though that plan was short lived when Antoine, fearing for his life, secretly went to the police to turn himself in and tell everything he knew of his former friend. Demise Personality Before his Awakening, Julios was described as someone trying to make do however he can, being willing only to go so far to make it to the next day and beyond that. After gaining his powers, he became more brash, and as the understanding of his powers grew and knowledge of criminal enterprises was gained, he grew more arrogant, with some (quietly) describing him as having a rather inflated ego that could rival the size of his head. With his ability that has saved him from death countless times, it has also brought upon a sense of invincibility to Bandito, building more on his confidence. However, he is still a careful individual, still paranoid of the wrong people knowing about his power. Bandito is willing to do nearly anything to keep his exposure to the minimum unless absolutely necessary, but even his diligence to caution can be thrown to the wind with his lingering anger issues, very prone to wanting to give extreme retribution to those who have wronged him in any sort of way, sometimes to the point of clouding his judgement. Banderas is also self-centered, due to the combination of aft-mention issues, to the point of crucially forgetting those who are friends with him by choice. Powers and Abilities Powers * Teleportation: Through yet-to-be-studied means via his DP field, Bandito can move himself instantaneously between locations. Focusing on just himself, he is able to teleport up to three miles (4.8 Kilometers) with little issue. This takes away from his energy stores, which can be replenished by food and rest. ** Volume-mass teleportation (objects): Additionally, he can extend his DP field to specific objects up to specific sizes, and teleport such along with himself over a distance. To initiate this, he simply needs to make physical contact with the chosen object in question. However, the larger or greater number the object, the smaller his range gets and puts further strain on his body. If the object is simply too large, the teleport will fail and Bandito can very well knock himself unconscious in the process. ** Volume-mass teleportation (living beings): Bandito is also able to transport along with him other living beings, though the most frequent being other bipedal sapient beings. Similar rules apply to the above with objects, but with a different caveat that, as a quirk of his power, as long as contact is made the person will be transported along with him. Those who are teleported with him may experience severe disorientation and nausea as a side-effect, though with practice (or heightened adrenaline) can negate it. * Enhanced Constitution and Endurance: Is considered tougher than average humans, as well as having a better store and control of his endurance that helps fuel his power, especially after years of constant training and self of the use of it. Weaknesses * Mass-distance correlation: The larger or greater the mass he is carrying with him during teleport (voluntary or not) shortens the radial distance of his power, with the largest stunt he performed (teleporting himself and an entire fully-loaded semi-truck) only managed at max distance one-fourth of a mile before nearly collapsing in exhaustion. * Distance-memory correlation: Bandito can only teleport to locations he has seen, which is still limited to the distance his power can take him at maximum. If he has not been or seen a location his power can take him, he obviously will be unable to properly visualize such for his teleportation to activate. * Energy stores: Teleportation requires energy. Bandito has higher-than-average endurance and constitution for a human of his stature, but his power still burns through his stores at a rapid pace depending on usage and amount of mass recently moved. If Bandito gets exhausted to a certain point, his teleportation will become ineffective of moving even himself anywhere. Abilities * Street Smarts: Ran the streets of his homeland and town at an early age, eventually ran away from home altogether years later, Banderas knows the ins and outs of how to get by while on the road or within an urban center, easily able to interact and hustle with anyone on the lower social rung of the ladder. * Gifted orator: In another life Bandito would have made a great (if dirty) politician. Instead he used his gift of gab to be able to sweet-talk various people into getting what he needs and wants, with his biggest accomplishments are managing to talk various small-gangs into merging and becoming the Neo Los Sureños, as well as negotiating a deal for weapons with the notorious prison-gang La eMe (AKA Mexican Mafia). * Sharpshooter: Is a dangerously good marksman with most simple firearms, preferring revolvers to sell better his enterprising image. Equipment * Two (2) .44 Ruger Vaquero Revolver pistols: Stolen from a collector's home and Bandito's twin pride and joy. Polished stainless steel with a design of a pretty Latina on the pearl white hand-grips on both, the weapons have been a trusted firearm for the would-be mythical bandit. * One (1) customized leather jacket: As a testament to his own ego and sense of self, during the peak of popularity within the Neo Los Sureños, Bandito had a jacket custom-made with his nickname embedded in rhinestones across the back. He would have went further and gotten a sombrero to match (ala mariachi band-style), but Lobo talked him out of it. Relationships Allies * Antoine 'Lobo' Flores Enemies * Skull Crushers * United Liberators Coalition ** Liberators-830B *** Isaiah Brown (was wounded by him in altercation) * Union Falls Police Department